[Acute leukoencephalopathy in Filipino women--report of two cases]

Two cases of acute leukoencephalopathy are reported. Both patients were Filipino women who had lived together in Japan for one month at the time of the onset. The first patient, 26 years old, suddenly developed right hemiplegia without fever. Small, high signal intensity lesions of the cerebral white matter were disseminated on T2-weighted magnetic resonance images. One week later, the patient became delirious, developed seizures, and lapsed into a comatose state with spastic quadriplegia. Corticosteroid was administered, resulting in improvement of consciousness levels. The patient was transferred to our hospital. Neurological examination disclosed severe pseudobulbar palsy and spastic quadriplegia without meningeal signs. Results of a cerebrospinal fluid examination were unremarkable. With magnetic resonance imaging, large irregularly-shaped lesions were seen in both centrum semiovale as high signal intensity areas on T2-weighted images and low signal intensity areas on T1-weighted images. Concentric structures in the lesions were particularly observed on T1-weighted images. One year later, the patient improved from a bedridden state to a wheel-chair bound state. The second patient, 23 years old, also developed right hemiplegia one week after the onset of the first case. MR imaging revealed small disseminated lesions in the cerebral white matter similar to those disclosed in the first case. From the onset, the patient was given corticosteroid, and experienced good recovery within one month. The clinical features, results of the laboratory examination, and MRI findings particularly in the first case suggest the diagnosis of so-called Baló's concentric sclerosis, despite the absence of pathological confirmation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)